Monday's Daily Pulse

What you need to know about Florida today

| 2/24/2014

Healthcare’s hidden costs

As hospitals consolidate into mega health systems, buying physician practices and building urgent care centers and outpatient clinics miles from their main campuses, patients are discovering that – just like baggage fees for air travel and convenience surcharges for concert tickets — some healthcare comes with hidden costs: facility fees. [Source: Miami Herald]

The Venezuelan government has ordered retailers to lower prices, forcing some to sell below cost.

Florida Trend Exclusive Economic ripples from Venezuela to Florida

A currency crackdown, surging inflation and government interference in pricing in Venezuela are likely to spill over into Florida’s economy. Exports from Florida to Venezuela are also expected to drop. Access story here.

'Boomerang' buyers getting another chance at homeownership

Many homeowners snared in the housing collapse thought they'd never own again – or at least have to wait a decade or longer to even think about it. Instead, Florida lenders and real estate agents say many former homeowners are recapturing the American Dream, as "boomerang buyers." [Source: South Florida Sun-Sentinel]

Architects engineer a comeback as construction revives

Florida added 7,000 architectural and engineering jobs between December 2012 and December 2013, state data show — a 10 percent jump and the fourth best of all industries. (The top three: building materials suppliers, heavy construction and —probably unrelated — hobby, book and sporting goods stores.) [Source: Tampa Bay Times]

Polishing the American Dream

Many Vietnamese are following a path well known to South Florida’s Latin American and Caribbean immigrant populations, carving out an entrepreneurial niche as they seek prosperity for their families. In South Florida — and across the nation — many Vietnamese have landed jobs in the nail salon industry. [Source: Miami Herald]

› Growing search for oil near Everglades raises environmental concerns[South Florida Sun-Sentinel] An intense search for black gold at the western edge of the Everglades is raising hopes and fears of an emerging oil boom. Energy companies are preparing to use new drilling and testing techniques to explore vast deposits that happen to lie beneath some of South Florida's most cherished environmental treasures.